Pizza pies are generally delivered to the customer's home or carried home by the customer in a flat rectangular closed carton. The carton is generally made from a laminated cardboard or paperboard including a central inexpensive pulpy material layer and higher quality outer laminated layers, which together form a relatively thin, heat conductive wall.
When a customer purchases a pizza pie, it is generally taken hot from the oven and placed on the upper surface of the bottom wall of the carton or on a sheet of waxed paper or the like that has been placed on the upper surface of the bottom wall. The hot pie is thus in direct heat conduction contact with the bottom wall or the sheet of paper on top of the bottom wall. Thereafter, the customer or the delivery man takes the carton with the hot pie and, in many cases, drives it to the purchaser's home. During that trip, the carton containing the hot pie is frequently laid upon the cold seat or other cold surface in the driver's vehicle and the hot pie tends to be significantly cooled during the delivery process due to a transfer of heat from the bottom of the carton to the seat, resulting in a dissatisfied customer.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved carton for transporting hot foods such as pizza pies.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved hot food carton in which insulation is provided on the bottom wall of the carton to keep the hot food enclosed therein hotter for a longer period of time during the transporation thereof to the customer's home.
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved hot food carton wherein the bottom wall of the carton comprises a multi layer insulation structure that includes a plurality of depressions and void spaces therein, which structure insulates the hot food in the carton from cold support surfaces during transport of the carton.
Additional objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.